Anything You Need
by telemetries
Summary: Harry's been feeling lethargic and annoyed lately. To top it off, he's been avoiding most people, including his friends. When he bumps into Luna, she convinces him to do otherwise. Short, kinda sweet story, a bit Harry/Luna.


_All you do is call me;_

_I'll be anything you need._

- Peter Gabriel, "Sledgehammer"

* * *

He pressed his face to the glass and felt the chill of it sink into his cheeks, well past his skin and into the bone. He took a step back, breathed, then did it again. The cold seemed to offer some kind of solace for him, and despite how odd he looked, Harry stayed in this position. His fingers clutched the windowpane, his nails digging into the hard, dark wood.

A light sound was coming from the other end of the hallway, and he wasn't quite sure what it was, nor did he care. Harry would stare here in this corner of the school's library until his headache went away and everyone stopped talking to him for the day. Which probably wouldn't happen until, oh, midnight.

In that case, he'd stay here all day, if need be.

His breath made a foggy cloud on the glass, covering up a section of the school grounds before him. Harry opened his eyes and viewed the rain coming down, forming tiny rivulets on the window and streaming sideways. He sighed, then stepped back and sat down at a nearby table. The library was quite empty, save for Madam Pince, who was scratching away at some papers with her bent-up quill, which never ceased moving in her gnarled, wrinkled hand. Harry looked away from her and turned to his book, which he had picked up at random:

_A Brewery of Balefulness: How to Create Sinister Potions in order to Punish One's Enemy._

...What in the world? What was he doing with this — no, never mind.

Harry snatched the book from the table and stowed it away on one of the shelves, ignoring a shrill squeak from another book before it. He grabbed his bag and made his way to the entrance of the library, intent on leaving and maybe joining a few others in the Great Hall for a late lunch, and saying _a few others _was actually accurate, it being the Easter holidays. Thankful for the break, Harry ignored Madam Pince's glare and left.

* * *

That light sound he had heard was now getting a little heavier, but not too much so. Straightening his school bag, Harry turned to see a girl with radish earrings and long blonde hair coming towards him, her face set in her usual dreamy expression. Luna Lovegood had a pile of papers in her hand, and she was taking the time to pin them all up on the bulletin boards in the hallway. Harry stared at her, then instantly felt bad for not immediately offering her some kind of help. He looked around, thankful that Umbridge wasn't around, and turned to Luna.

"Hi Luna," he said awkwardly. "Do you, er —"

"Oh, it's alright," Luna said, her voice misty. "I'm just posting notices. Some of my things have gone missing again, including my book on Crumpled-Horned Snorkacks. I wouldn't make such a large deal, but I really would like that book back. People are very inconsiderate, I think. Although that's really nothing new."

Harry nodded in agreement, setting his bag down. "Are you sure you don't want help?" he asked politely, extending his hands. "You can't post them all yourself."

Luna looked down at her pile, then nodded and lifted half a stack from her load, placing it in Harry's hands. Harry took the papers and began helping her post, their shoulders brushing once or twice as they crossed to the boards.

"How have you been, Harry?" Luna asked quite suddenly. "You seem a little sad. And you're avoiding people."

Harry stopped, then shrugged. "I've — no reason. I'm just — I don't feel very friendly lately," he chuckled nervously, and then bit his lip and turned away when Luna didn't laugh.

"I don't think it's spontaneous," Luna said. "That isn't much like you. At least, not where it matters. You usually have some kind of reason for things. Have people been picking on you again?"

Harry felt his cheeks burn, and a creeping feeling of stupidity flooded his stomach. He felt like a little boy being mollycoddled by an overly doting mother, one who enjoyed reading magasines upside-down and said the most honest things at the most awkward and weird times. And at the same time, it felt like an extremely good friend just looking out for him — actually, the latter was what it truly felt like. But the former was clouding it up, which made Harry uncomfortable.

"Something like that, yeah," Harry murmured, "but not really. I've just been really annoyed with everyone lately, I dunno. Nothing too special."

"Have you talked to Ron and Hermione? They're your best friends, of course. Unless you've fought with them again?"

Harry shook his head. "I haven't been — well, okay, I've just been avoiding them too, a little bit. But not too much — just everyone else more so."

"But there's no real difference."

Harry sighed, then he turned to Luna, who had stopped posting flyers. He stepped a little closer to her, then smiled sadly.

"I just feel like no one's really willing to talk to me civilly anymore, to be honest. It's like — I don't know. Everyone's just been the same, as usual, but for some reason I've been feeling like it's even more strained because of what's been going on lately, what with the D.A. and everything else and —"

"And the papers. And Umbridge saying all those awful things," Luna quipped.

Harry sighed.

"That's not an excuse for you to avoid people, though," Luna instantly said. "I mean, it's awful that people are doing this to you, but everyone goes through embarrassing things everyday. And I think that it goes without saying that you're never really alone. You'll always have people to support you, even when it seems like that isn't the case at all. And be careful Harry, you're about to trip over your robes."

Harry looked down. He'd been nervously rocking back and forth on his heels, and noticed that, indeed, he was about to topple over the hem of his school robes. He moved them out of the way and stopped rocking to face Luna dead-on, looking into her clear blue eyes. Her cheeks were high and her smile pleasant, as was the rest of her face, and this instilled a kind of silent comfort within Harry.

"I'm here to talk to, if you ever need me," Luna said kindly, taking Harry's hand in hers. "And maybe we could exchange advice of sorts. I've been having some rough days too, to be quite honest with you. It feels like I don't have much of anyone to talk to. Well, I could talk to Ginny, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't have time to hear about what I'm feeling. Especially since she's been stressed lately because of schoolwork and such."

"I'm sure she cares," Harry said quietly.

"She does," Luna replied. "But she's got no time to. Lots of people don't."

Harry blinked, then smiled and tightened his grip on Luna's hand, which was still clasped around his. He felt a silent kind of connection with Luna, one that he hadn't really had with Cho Chang or any other girl. Luna was odd, honest, dreamy, uncaring of what others thought of her. Harry was like that, but to a certain extent; he couldn't help but feel irked at what people said about him, and he didn't like himself for caring so much, but that was that.

Or maybe he could learn to be a little bit like Luna, and try to disregard what others thought of him. After all, what really mattered was what Harry thought of himself, right?

Right.

"We're a little close, Harry. Should we move back?"

Harry was startled out of his reverie. "Huh?"

"I mean, unless you're intending to hug me or something."

Harry stopped, then he slowly embraced Luna, who was a little surprised at first. She was still, then she embraced Harry around his waist, hugging him tightly. She pressed a kind kiss to his cheek, then they pulled apart gently.

"I hope your week goes a little better, Harry," Luna said. "Try to talk to your friends more. I'm sure they miss you."

"...And maybe I could talk to you as well," Harry replied quietly, and Luna stared for a moment. Then a wide grin spread across her face.

"I'd like that," Luna said. She turned around and skipped back down the other end of the hallway, and Harry stared after her, a sort of light in his eye. He gathered himself and continued to the Great Hall, this time with the intention of sitting with Ron and Hermione, who had decided to stay behind for the holidays, and discuss Snape's latest test.

As he walked, Harry rubbed the spot on his cheek where Luna had kissed him, and smiled to himself. He would definitely be talking to her a lot more in the future, and maybe even have lunch with her one of these days. Harry was sure of it.


End file.
